Rigid hard-top convertible roofs have been used on a variety of motor vehicles. Some of these conventional convertible hard-top roofs are stored in a generally vertical orientation, and some are stored in a predominantly horizontal orientation. Furthermore, some of these conventional hard-top roofs fold in a clam shelling manner while others are collapsible in an overlapping manner. Most convertible hard-top roofs, however, employ a complicated linkage arrangement to couple the forward most hard-top roof section to either the vehicle body or the rear hard-top roof section. This is often due to the weight and moment arm effect of the front roof section during retraction. For example, many of these known mechanisms use an elongated balance link coupling the body to the front roof section, or an elongated sliding or track guide secured to the vehicle body and coupled to a link. Notwithstanding, such mechanisms may pose packaging and assembly obstacles in the typically tight confines of the vehicle body. The additional time required for assembly of these complicated linkage assemblies into a vehicle can substantially affect the cost of a vehicle having a convertible roof.
Examples of traditional hard-top convertible roofs are disclosed in the following patents: U.S. Pat. No. 5,979,970 entitled “Roof Assembly for a Convertible Vehicle” which issued to Rothe et al on Nov. 9, 1999; U.S. Pat. No. 5,785,375 entitled “Retractable Hard-Top for an Automotive Vehicle” which issued to Alexander et al on Jul. 28, 1998; U.S. Pat. No. 5,769,483 entitled “Convertible Motor Vehicle Roof” which issued to Danzel et al on Jun. 23, 1998; U.S. Pat. No. 5,743,587 entitled “Apparatus for Use in an Automotive Vehicle Having a Convertible Roof System” which issued to Alexander et al on Apr. 28, 1998; and EPO Patent Publication No. 1 092 580 A1 which was published on Apr. 18, 2001, each of which is herein incorporated by reference.